It has been a journey sharing my Indian wedding beauty rituals. Before we dive into the final post, here is a quick summary: I shared how the turmeric ceremony helped cleaned my face, making it smooth and glowey. Or how the Goddess of Purity, rid me off all impurities and finally the Mehndi ceremony, that relaxed me and added beauty to my hands. With all that done, it was time to get hitched. As a modern bride, whilst my Indian beauty rituals helped a great deal, I did want to make sure my clothes and makeup were perfect!
But, before we get into the details, I want to share my ethos on beauty, because it played a big part in determining how my final looks would be:
1) I rarely wear makeup. In my day to day life I almost never wear makeup, even the basics. I truly live by the no makeup look. For me I find I lose who I am, and can’t recognize myself in the mirror when I wear makeup. At Indian weddings, brides wear extremely heavy makeup, for me this was just not going to be an option. A few months before the wedding, I went and met with my hair stylist and makeup artists and did a full run. She was super shocked, but it made a world of a difference. I wanted my happiness and the Indian beauty rituals to shine. I am a big believer in the zero-makeup look.
2) Comfort is everything. I know as brides we want to look divine on our big day, but these are very long days. I felt that in order to look beautiful and natural at my wedding events and in the pictures, I had to make sure everything I wore was comfortable. From makeup to outfits, I didn’t want to be suffocating or struggling to go to the rest room or in pain or not be able to eat!!! So, I not only looked at the outfit itself but also how comfortable I would be. I know they say beauty hurts, but why should it?
So here we go – event by event.
Turmeric and Goddess of Purity events
Since I was going to be covered in turmeric, I opted for a 100% natural look. I didn’t put any makeup on. I had gotten a French manicure the day before, and sadly after the turmeric ceremony it was yellow! So, thank god no makeup! I also put my hair in a bun because I didn’t want it to get ruined, but then my brother decided to dump a whole bowl of turmeric on me! I ended up with yellow hair!!!
Right after the turmeric ceremony was over, I ran up and showered. But since the Goddess of Purity ceremony had to start as soon as possible, I had zero time to dry my hair or put makeup. Hence, I again ended up with the all-natural look with a hair bun. However, the reason I did look more dolled up is because of the flowers I got decorated with. Plus, my outfit was fancy, with gold elephant imprints on the pants and the long peach colored tunic. In Indian weddings, it is considered inauspicious to wear dark colors or whites; whites are usually worn when someone dies. Hence, all my outfits were super colorful!
I actually love the all-natural make up look. It has a softness to it, and it lets your happiness shine, don’t you think? Oh I have to add, I also smelled so good because of the jasmine flowers, didn’t need any perfumes. The Goddess of Purity, really does make you totally free of chemicals!
Mehndi Ceremony and Dance Party
The biggest thing for these two events was going to be about comfort. For the Mehndi ceremony I was going to be sitting for almost 6-8 hours whilst my mehndi was being put and drying. And for the dance party, I was going to be dancing all night (duh!). Hence, for both events I decided to wear a long tunic with pants. I kept my hair simple with a braids; I added jasmine flowers at the Mehndi ceremony. I again opted with makeup looks that were more natural. For the Mehndi ceremony, I just did, eyeliner, mascara and lip gloss. For the Dance Party, I did do a full face with foundation and eyeshadow, but decided not to go too overboard, because I was worried how the sweat would make it all droopy! A product that I love that helps with looks last longer, even if you are sweating is the Mist & Fix by Makeup Forever. I always spray it after my look is complete and it helps keep it in place for a while!
Removing makeup
The night was great filled with laughter and dancing, and I was totally exhausted. When I reached home all I wanted to do was sleep as the next day was going to be a hectic day. But I knew I had to remove my makeup, because going to bed with a full face of makeup was just going to give me acne the next morning. I took my lazy self to the bathroom, used coconut oil to remove all the makeup. I then washed with Face Gems. It took away an extra 10 minutes of sleep, but I woke up in the morning with a clean face.
So moral of the story is, go for no makeup then you can sleep an extra 10 minutes! 😊.
Wedding day
For my wedding look, I wore a traditional Indian outfit called Lehenga (pronounced le-hen-ga). It is basically a short top, with a long skirt and kind of a wrap (which is the blue thing on my head). I had gone to India to find this outfit, and it is from my favorite Indian designer Sabyasachi. He has the most beautiful clothes. My wedding outfit, was not a traditional bridal outfit. Usually they are red and have lots of intricate designs. I wanted a more modern look.
It may look like I wore a lot of jewelry, but for Indian standards, way under – I wanted to be clean and simple.
I took the same approach for my makeup; I was heavy on my eyes, with a bluer, pinker eyeshadow. But opted for just a simple lip-gloss for my lips.
So here is the thing, I hate lipstick! I am scared of it. A quick flashback, when I was young, my mummy told me lipstick would make my lips black, and ever since I have never worn lipstick.
But that was it – that was my wedding look. Next is the Reception!
I wore a similar style outfit as my wedding, a top and skirt, but for my makeup I just did blush, eyeliner and mascara that’s it! No foundation, no coverup.
And it is a wrap!
For my wedding look, I wore a traditional Indian outfit called Lehenga (pronounced le-hen-ga). It is basically a short top, with a long skirt and kind of a wrap (which is the blue thing on my head). I had gone to India to find this outfit, and it is from my favorite Indian designer Sabyasachi. He has the most beautiful clothes. My wedding outfit, was not a traditional bridal outfit. Usually they are red and have lots of intricate designs. I wanted a more modern look.
It may look like I wore a lot of jewelry, but for Indian standards, way under – I wanted to be clean and simple.
I took the same approach for my makeup; I was heavy on my eyes, with a bluer, pinker eyeshadow. But opted for just a simple lip-gloss for my lips.
So here is the thing, I hate lipstick! I am scared of it. A quick flashback, when I was young, my mummy told me lipstick would make my lips black, and ever since I have never worn lipstick.
But that was it – that was my wedding look. Next is the Reception!
I wore a similar style outfit as my wedding, a top and skirt, but for my makeup I just did blush, eyeliner and mascara that’s it! No foundation, no coverup.